Marimo
by eternal-anime
Summary: An item catches Sanji's eye as he was walking down the streets. He decides that he has to have it for reasons he does not like to admit. The consequences of his actions are ones he does not want to face. ZoSan.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I am back this short little drabble, hope you enjoy! :D **

When the advertisement outside an authentic Japanese shop caught Sanji's eye, he could not for the life of him ignore it and simply walk away. The coincidence and the rarity of the situation just made it that impossible.

He decided that he needed to check the item out; it was too intriguing to ignore.

As he walked in, he told himself it was simply out of curiosity. Not because he cared for that certain someone or because he needed a reminder. He told himself that it is perfectly normal and any normal person would never waste this opportunity, it was simply too precious.

He walked in to the small store, looking around briefly at the crammed interior. The packed shelves held all types of foods, some he saw around before and some he did not. He made a mental note to come back later and check those ingredients, not today though. Today he only had one item in mind.

He walked up to the shop's clerk, the one he suspected to be the owner of the shop. It was an old Japanese man, his back bent with the weight of the years he lived, but his eyes shown of youth and life that was only existed in the eyes of a few.

"Hello" Sanji greeted, he scanned the shelves behind the clerk. Yes, it was just what he wanted.

"How can I help you today?" the clerk asked enthusiastically.

"I just wanted to check those Japanese marimos you have, I am very interested in buying one" Sanji said.

"Well young man you have a very good eye for quality. You see this shipment just arrived from Japan, those marimos are considered a national treasure there. You are very lucky to have passed by here, especially that I did not see you around before." The old man said while proceeding to take some of the marimos off the shelf to display them for Sanji.

"Yes, I am very well aware of that, I really am lucky to have found this shop today" Sanji inspected the jars that held the marimos that were displayed on the counter for him; they were in all shapes and sizes, with different shades of green. There was only one shade that caught his eyes though. He told himself that it has nothing to do with a certain swordsman's hair color.

"I would like to see this one please" Sanji pointed to the large jar that held one soccer ball sized marimo that was the exact shade of bright vibrant green he desired.

"Young man, you do have an excellent eye for this. This is the finest marimo we got and the most expensive too. What is so special about this marimo is that it is very vibrant, a color you will not find anywhere else, and it looks like fresh grass! Plus it is very durable, most marimos die from hot or cold weather but this one went through all that and still survived and held its amazing color" The old man displayed to him the price tag on it.

It read "200 dollars". That would be all the money that Sanji carried right now.

The price did not even faze Sanji, it only motivated him more to buy it because of its rarity. He told himself it was definitely not because of the resemblance between it and the marimo he had in mind.

"I will buy it then" Sanji resolved.

"Just let me warn you young man, this is a strange one. Instead of rolling around in steady patterns, it has very irregular movements, almost like it is lost. I guess you can say this is one odd ball" The old man laughed loudly at this own pun, Sanji mentally shook his head.

This marimo was even more desirable to him now; no way he was going to let it go. He told himself it was not because of the similarity between it and his eternal rival's sense of direction.

"It is okay, I will still buy it" Sanji proceeded to pull the cash out of his wallet.

"Thank you for your business!" The old man chirped happily as he put the jar in a box. Sanji took it and proceeded to exit the shop.

As he walked home he told himself that he bought it only because he always wanted a pet that he did not need much care, he told himself that he was always interested in buying a marimo anyways and the likeness between the marimo and Zoro was not uncanny. He told himself it has nothing to do with Zoro and the butterflies he got in his stomach when he thought about him.

He told himself that Zoro has absolutely nothing to do with this.

Sanji walked home with a slight bounce in his walk because of the bubbling excitement. He entered his apartment and placed the jar on top of his desk in front of his window.

And as he grabbed the permanent marker to name his new pet, he could not help himself as he wrote "ZORO". And of course he told himself that it had nothing to do with the feelings and secret attraction he got for the swordsman, it was only because of the similarities between the two.

Sanji could tell himself all of this and pretend to believe it. But deep down he knew that it has everything to do with Zoro.

Speaking of whom, the swordsman was coming over tomorrow night to drink with him. He will have to be careful that no one knew about his new friend, Zoro the Actual Marimo.

**TBC**

**I know that marimos are usually waaaaaaaaaay cheaper but I over exaggerated the price for the sake of the story! XD**

**So what do you guys think? Please let me know! :D **


	2. Chapter 2

It started out as a competition to test how far the swordsman can hold his liquor. They made a bet that if Sanji got Zoro drunk, then Sanji could ask the swordsman to do one thing for him and Zoro would have no choice but to agree and go along with it. This bet started months ago, every weekend they would meet and drink together while watching TV, and making up drinking game as they went. But so far, the cook only managed to get him tipsy. Nowhere near drunkenness.

It was Zoro's turn to go over to Sanji's place. They did not even need to call each other anymore; they would just show up, it was their mutual silent agreement. During that time, they would make small talk or sit in comfortable silence, taking down the rivalry and the walls they built around them. To anyone that did not know them well, they seemed like nemeses that hated each other but in reality they were close friends, they just portrayed it differently.

Zoro headed up the apartment building where Sanji's place was. The building was only one block away from his so he would walk there, or sometimes jogged, and normally he would be able to take the walk back with no problem especially that the cook never managed to get him drunk.

Zoro stood in front of Sanji's place; he gave two light knocks on the door knowing that his arrival was expected.

"I am coming shitty marimo!" Sanji yelled from inside the apartment, his voice seemed to come from the kitchen area.

The swordsman gave two strong and more aggressive knocks, knowing that it would piss the cook off, "Get your slow ass over here shit-cook!"

Zoro heard loud stomping approaching the door and he smirked to himself. Getting a reaction out of Sanji never got old.

Sanji unlocked and opened the door; a smirking relaxed swordsman greeted him. For once, Zoro did not have his swords on him making him look very laid back and comfortable.

"Yo Cook, you finally managed to get your skinny ass over here. Took you long enough," Zoro challenged.

"Oh I am sorry, I didn't realize the princess had her panties in a bunch. You know I heard about this therapist that treats people like that, you should definitely go there" Sanji retorted and rolled his eyes. He stepped aside to let the swordsman in.

Zoro snorted and went into the apartment, "You should go to that therapist then, maybe they could manage to get that stick out of your ass, cause its so far up it's messing up your brain"

Zoro went in to sit on the couch while Sanji went into the kitchen, he turned on the TV, the AMC channel was on and Breaking Bad was playing.

Sanji came back from the kitchen with 5 bottles of booze: 2 bottles of Bunderberg Rum, a bottle of Absinthe, a bottle of Whiskey, and a bottle of Vodka.

"At least I have a brain, you have like two brain cells that you rub together. I am surprised you even found the way here" Sanji retorted, smirking as he handed the bottles to Zoro to place them on the coffee table. Sanji sat one seat over from Zoro.

"Yeah right" Zoro grunted. He let Sanji have the last word in this one. The cook can't hold his liquor anyways; he will have his comeback later.

Sanji sat down, he handed Zoro a glass and got confortable on the couch. He looked over at the TV and saw Braking Bad playing. He got the idea for the perfect drinking game.

"Yo marimo, every time Jesse Pinkman says, "bitch" you have to down a shot," Sanji suggested.

"Game on!" Zoro finalized.

"Which bottle are you starting with?"

"Lets go with the vodka"

The episode playing was mostly about Jesse, Zoro finished the vodka and the whiskey. The episode was over and Sanji was pretty drunk himself as he occasionally drank along, but did not drink as nearly as the swordsman.

"Can't hold your liquor cook?" Zoro asked, his cheeks a bit flushed.

"Who said, I am just fine" Sanji slurred.

They continued the drinking game throughout the night as the Breaking Bad marathon went on, though Sanji did not continue drinking as much as he could because wanted to be awake if the swordsman ever got smashed.

Four hours passed and by then all the bottles were empty, both Zoro and Sanji were pretty stoned.

"Damn it cook, you got pretty heavy booze, is that even legal?" Zoro hiccupped, his voice slurred and his pupils dilated.

"I got them online, you can't buy this shit in stores" Sanji said, his head spinning.

"You drunk marimo?" Sanji sighed. As he leaned his head against the back of the couch, his blond hair fell back from his eye, exposing both of them. He squinted his eyes trying to get some focus back into them.

"I think so"

"Finally"

"I am going to go take a piss" Zoro got up and headed for the bathroom.

Sanji sat alone on the couch, he had not noticed but he has gotten pretty close the marimo, they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. When the swordsman got up, Sanji felt the warmth escape him.

The swordsman walked through the hallway not remembering where the bathroom was so he decided to check the rooms as he went.

He entered the first room in the hallway. The room was unfamiliar to him but he figured that it was Sanji's bedroom. He had never gone in there before, he felt very curious as to how the room looked like and he presumed it wouldn't hurt to check out the room so he turned on the light and walked in.

The room was pretty simple; it held one queen-sized bed, a desk, and a dresser. The bed had a sea blue bedding laid neatly on it with little fish prints. The desk had a small books shelf, all the books looked like cook books, and there was a mysterious jar sitting on the windowsill. He couldn't tell what was in it from the door where he stood so he decided to go in and check what was in it.

As he walked into the room, the object in the jar became clearer. It was a fairly large marimo ball, with a very vibrant shade of green, much like his hair. The marimo looked well cared for. He also noticed a tiny label on the jar. He walked over the desk; he picked the jar up carefully as to not spill the water, close enough to read it with his blurry vision.

The label read "ZORO".

His brain was fuzzy, but he understood that this was something that Sanji would not like him to see. He might pretend he never saw this, but for some reason he got butterflies in his gut as he read his own name on it, and he felt himself get warmer.

"YO MARIMO, DID YOU GET LOST AGAIN?" Sanji yelled from the couch, Zoro heard his drunken footsteps approach the room.

The swordsman merely stood there trying not to look awkward. Sanji peaked into the door and he saw Zoro standing in front of his desk, his back facing the door.

"Oi Zoro what are you doing here?" Sanji asked, he walked into the room he felt his heart fall from his chest when he remembered what the swordsman might be looking at.

"Oi" Sanji grabbed Zoro's shoulder to turn him around.

There was the jar in his hand; and to his very bad luck, the swordsman was clearly looking at the label.

"This" Zoro said looking at the jar.

"Oh, umm, it's a marimo I got yesterday" Sanji explained trying to prevent the rising blush on his cheek, hoping the swordsman would not notice it.

"Why is my name on it?"

"Because…"

"Because?"

Sanji tried to think of an excuse to say that would not make him look like a creep.

Zoro stared at him, his eyes holding Sanji's blue ones.

"Because none of your business" Sanji blurted breaking the eye contact, he felt extremely embarrassed by the situation.

He snatched the jar from the swordsman's hands, and placed it back on the windowsill.

The cook proceeded to turn around and leave, as his drunken brain was too overwhelmed, it felt like the best option at that moment. But of course Zoro would have none of that. Damn that persistent bastard.

"Oi, where are you going?" Zoro grabbed his arm and pushed him against the wall just as the cook was attempting to turn away, forcing him to make eye contact.

"Just drop it okay, didn't you want to go to the bathroom?" Sanji said, he scowled, his eyes sharpening; he tried to cover his emotions with a mask.

"Don't change the subject"

"There was no subject to begin with"

"The jar"

"That's none of your business"

"My name is on it, so it's my business"

"Why did you even go in here?"

"Stop doing that"

"Doing what?"

"Changing the subject"

There was an awkward silence that followed; the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Stop asking about it, just drop it, okay? You won't understand anyways." Sanji looked straight into Zoro's piercing eyes, he put on a poker face and his eyes turned icy cold.

"You know what? Whatever, I still have to take a piss anyways"

Zoro grunted and let him go, he knew that the cook would say no more about this matter.

The marimo-head turned and left the room to head for the bathroom. As soon as Zoro left, Sanji sat on the bed; he buried his face in his hands and closed his eyes tightly.

"Fuck this, why does it have to be so hard?" Sanji whispered, his voice desperate; he wished he had the guts to come out with his feelings.

He heard Zoro walk out the bathroom down the hallway to the couch, he decided it was best to not dwell on what happened and hope that Zoro would forget about it.

As Sanji walked out of the bedroom and headed for the couch, he saw Zoro resting on it, his head leaning back while watching the TV. Sanji walked in and casually sat near him. The swordsman looked relaxed enough that he would not bring up the jar again, so the cook naturally tried to relax too. There was a sitcom on the TV, one that he doesn't remember seeing before, he finally fully calmed down and his posture went slag. And as he sat on the couch beside Zoro, their shoulders were barely touching.

The swordsman felt even drunker than he did before, his eyes barely focused and his brain hazy. He had never drank this much high content alcohol previously, damn that cook for getting him to be this way, the shit cook definitely won the bet.

"Oi, cook"

"Yeah?"

"I think you won the bet"

"Oh yeah, finally then, I wasted a fortune on that booze. It was worth it though" Sanji said, feeling more relaxed than he did before.

"So what do you want me to do for you, Princess?" the swordsman asked.

"Don't call me that, asshole," Sanji grunted.

"I will call you whatever the fuck I want, Princess" the swordsman pressed on, knowing that he will get an exciting reaction out of Sanji.

"Fuck you man"

"You wish" Zoro retorted.

Sanji felt the heat rising through his cheeks, if only it wasn't true.

"Very creative comeback, I see your two brain cells are tired already," the cook said sarcastically.

"Seriously though, what do you want me to do?" Zoro continued, "I did promise, and I don't break my promises"

"Well there is one thing…" Sanji said, the alcohol affecting his judgment, the proximity made him feel Zoro's heat radiating throughout his body, the light banter made him realize why he liked the swordsman in the first place. This rivalry, he could be himself around Zoro, he can say whatever he wanted and no one's feelings would get hurt, they could fight, argue, and beat each other up and still be friends. They had moments of friendship, though rare, were very prominent. When he was with Zoro, he was happy, and that was all that mattered.

"What is it?" Zoro asked turning his head to Sanji, because they were the same height, they met eye-to-eye.

Sanji felt like he could not hold himself anymore, he could feel Zoro's breath on him faintly, he could hear the sound of his breath, he could smell him, he could see the exact color of his eyes, that greenish grey color so deep and piecing.

If only he can be a couple of inches closer they would be kissing. But that's where the line was drawn but tonight was the night those lines will be crossed.

"There is only one thing I want…" Sanji leaned in and before Zoro could blink he was kissing Sanji mouth to mouth. His eyes widened in realization. This was not what he expected. To be frank, he was stunned.

Sanji began moving his mouth against Zoro's but Zoro didn't move an inch. He was as frozen as a rock.

Sanji quickly pulled back, it felt like someone shot him through his chest then ripped out his heart and torn it to pieces.

"Sanji-I cant… this is-I don't even" Zoro tried to form a sentence.

"Listen, I have to go" The swordsman abruptly stood up and ran to the door, he put on his shoes and walked out. He might as well have walked out of Sanji's life.

The cook sat there completely shocked, hurt, and beyond sad. When the realization dawned upon him and he realized the gravity of his actions, he slid down the couch to the carpeted floor and for the second time that night, buried his eyes in his hands. He wished that the earth would crack open and swallow him in.

"Shit! What have I done?!"

**TBC.**

**I am looking for a beta reader; if anyone is interested please let me know! XD**

**By the way, Breaking Bad is a TV show, it pretty intense and good incase you haven't heard about it! :D **

**So how do you guys think this chapter went?**


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